Deception
by Elycat
Summary: Caught by illusion, Rikichi can only try to remember what is real against that deception. RikichixTatsuki, Kyoka Suigetsu


_A/N - this is written for a challenge on LJ. Honestly, I dunno why this came out so creepy... D:_

* * *

One moment he was standing in Karakura Town, fighting Aizen's forces alongside his friends; the next it was dark. Complete blackness. Rikichi whirled around, his fists clenching as if he could fight the nothingness that seemed to encroach on him. "Hana?" he called out, his voice shaking. "Rin! Momo! Tatsuki!"

Nothing.

"Guys! Where are you?" Rikichi's voice rose sharply, and his yelp sounded panicked. It was then that he sensed the light behind him, and turned slowly around.

A woman stood there, seeming to glow in the darkness. Her slender frame was clad in a brightly patterned kimono; a silver veil hid her eyes. She smiled gently. "Rikichi," she said softly, and held out her arms.

He didn't move except to clench the hilt of his zanpakuto. "Who are you?"

"You don't remember me?" she whispered softly, walking toward him still with her hands held out. "What has happened to you?"

"I don't know you," Rikichi said firmly, taking a step backwards. "What is this place? Where are we?"

A sob caught in her throat. "You really don't remember anything, do you?" Suddenly she'd enfolded him in her arms (how had she suddenly come so close?) and was stroking the back of his head. "My dear Rikichi."

Unnerved, he jerked out of her embrace, on edge, tense and glaring. "What have you done with my friends?" he demanded.

"Your friends?"

"Hanatarou. Rin. Hinamori-san. Tatsuki-chan..."

She lifted his head with her hand gently, and though she seemed to be smiling, pitying him, a shiver ran through Rikichi as he wondered what her expression would look like without the veil. "I see you don't understand," she said, her voice rich with sympathy. "You have awakened from a long dream, but I did not realize... These friends of yours do not exist, Rikichi. They never did. It was only you and I..."

Rikichi forced himself to laugh. "You're the one who's being delusional. I've never met you in my life, and I _know_ I was with Hana and everyone just now." He looked down at his hand, opened and closed it. "Only minutes ago I touched Tatsuki-chan. I can still remember what that felt like." Images flashed through his mind: the cero, Tatsuki frozen in place, her hand in his as he dragged her out of harm's way... they'd gone down hard, falling several feet onto hard concrete, but at least they were alive--

_But his leg didn't hurt anymore where he'd landed on it. _The sudden realization struck Rikichi cold, but before he could fully process it, the woman was there with him again, standing behind him with her arms wrapped around him. Her sweet, exotic perfume filled the air - if it was air - around them and made it hard for him to think. "Don't worry," she whispered in his ear, and he felt his body tingling in response. "It will all be over soon. As if you never met them. The dream will fade, Rikichi, and you can return to me..."

"I--I'm not going to forget them," Rikichi said with an effort, and tried to pull away, but the woman still clung to him. "My _nakama._ My..." But he couldn't think of a word that would describe Tatsuki, and suddenly the woman was in front of him, her face almost touching his, and he _still couldn't see her eyes..._

"Remember me!" she said, almost desperately, and leaned forward. Their lips brushed and Rikichi jumped back in alarm.

"I won't remember you," he shouted, his voice strangled. His body didn't seem to be responding properly - _what was she doing to him?_ - and hard as he tried to remember, his memories were coming in strange, jerky flashes. "And I won't forget them!"

"You've misplaced your loyalty, Rikichi," the woman said. "Don't you remember being this loyal to _me?"_

A whiff of her perfume reached him and suddenly he almost _could_ remember, but Rikichi didn't believe it. Didn't want to believe it. "No," he said steadily, backing away.

"They were never a part of your life, Rikichi," she said, slowly following him. "You don't have to cling to an illusion. _I'm_ here."

And sure enough, he was suddenly having trouble recalling their faces... Rin. He remembered Rin. Rin had a nervous laugh and a slight stature and dull black hair - no, no, that wasn't Rin, Rin was a girl, a girl with a kind face and black hair in a bun - but no, she wasn't Rin either, her name was Hana... Hana, right? A strangled cry of fear escaped him as he searched his memories, and he fell backwards.

The woman swept in and pulled him to his feet, drawing him close. "You cannot recall their names, can you?" she said. "Can you remember mine?"

Slowly it came to him, as surely as if she were whispering it in his ear - was she? he couldn't tell - he murmured it along with her. "Kyoka... Suigetsu..."

"That's right." The purr in her voice was like a satisfied cat.

The name stirred something in him, a memory. That name was important. "I knew... someone..." Or did he? He couldn't put a face to the name and, anyway, it didn't matter. Of course he knew someone named Kyoka Suigetsu. She was standing in front of him now.

A smile lifted the corner of Kyoka's mouth. "Of course you did." She leaned forward and this time he didn't draw back - was he paralyzed? did he _want_ this? suddenly, Rikichi couldn't think at all - and Kyoka Suigetsu's lips met his. Suddenly, all he could think of was _why didn't it bother him,_ the fact that she didn't have eyes... but no, no, he mustn't think of that, it was only a veil after all--

She pulled back abruptly, and tilted her head to one side. "But Rikichi! Aren't you happy to remember me?"

Was he? Rikichi wasn't sure. Something was missing. He considered, carefully, the way Kyoka had kissed him, and distinctly remembered now that there was a girl, not so long ago, that he had once wanted to kiss. Her face, her name escaped him, but as another wave of scent washed over him, he realized that it could not have been Kyoka Suigetsu. This girl had smelled much different.

He struggled to cling to the thought of that girl, even as he watched Kyoka and answered her. "I don't know... if... I have," he said slowly, carefully, not sure how to choose his words. It was silly, of course, of course he remembered Kyoka Suigetsu... she was his... his...

"Of course you have," Kyoka purred, and embraced him again. Something about it reminded him of a snake; panic suddenly rose in Rikichi at her veiled face next to his - she was too close, _too close - _but again he couldn't move, and suddenly he wasn't sure if he wanted to. Her hand twined in his hair, and it felt - sort of nice - and then she whispered in his ear again. "You belong to me, Rikichi."

Part of him agreed and wanted to give in, to close his eyes and simply collapse against Kyoka Suigetsu, but something in the back of his mind resisted. Rikichi belonged to _no one, _and when he thought about it, he realized he felt very strongly about this. Some inner part of his soul rebelled against being _owned,_ and he realized he should tell Kyoka this. "I'm... not yours," he managed to say, and suddenly felt stifled by her presence, but he couldn't move. His body felt drained of energy.

She pushed him back at arm's length, which Rikichi felt should relieve him, except that he had a feeling that if she released him entirely he would no longer be able to stand. Her lips pursed with playful frustration. "Rikichi, of _course_ you do. And I belong to you," she hastened to add, squeezing his shoulders a little harder than was comfortable. "Don't you remember that we're _soulmates?"_

It was hard, but he made himself think it through rather than accepting Kyoka's words immediately. Soulmates. He thought of the thrill that ran through his body when she touched him, when she'd kissed him - no, something about that wasn't right, somehow_. _It was pleasant, yes, but somehow it was lacking... _It's not like that other girl._ Once again, Rikichi strained to remember her, and couldn't quite do it, but he knew she had been _different_ from Kyoka Suigetsu.

When Kyoka touched him, she was gentle... soft... and yet, suddenly, he felt that her gentleness was a mask for some ugly strength just as her veil hid away her eyes. This other girl... _had she touched him?_ Yes, Rikichi realized, she had, and she'd not been nearly as gentle as Kyoka Suigetsu was. _She punched me, almost the first time we met._ The sudden memory gave Rikichi a jolt, and he almost smiled - _she_ was not like Kyoka. That girl's strength had hid something else... vulnerability, confusion.

Rikichi had wanted to protect her.

He looked up at Kyoka Suigetsu, calmly, and pulled himself free of her hands. As he'd expected, his legs folded beneath him and he fell to the ground... if the blackness were ground. Kyoka followed, kneeling down before him, every movement speaking concern. She reached out to him, and he hit away her hand. Her veiled, eyeless face suddenly terrified him.

"Don't come near me," Rikichi gasped.

"Rikichi," Kyoka breathed, tilting her head in concern - and Rikichi reached out and tore the veil from her face.

"I never knew you!" he shouted, putting all of his strength into striking out at her, and he saw what she'd hidden. Those eyes, inhuman and savage, the eyes of a monster, a sharp contrast to her shapely, beautiful face.

She shrieked, the voice of a monster, and he saw her body changing, shifting shape. _She causes illusions,_ Rikichi remembered suddenly, and it made sense now. _Kyoka Suigetsu._

He closed his eyes. He didn't want to see what horrific thing she'd become, and knew his death was near. Death was preferable, he realized, to becoming mindless slave to that _thing..._ Aizen's zanpakuto. _How had it invaded his mind?_

It didn't seem to matter now, and only one thing did. His memories... she'd stolen his memories... Faces flashed through his mind's eye, and he tried to remember - _what was her name? that dark-haired girl - the one I want to protect -_ _the one I love - _and suddenly everything was clear.

As Kyoko Suigetsu advanced to destroy him, he screamed the girl's name to the blackness.

Her arms were encircled around him, something damp was on his hair and neck, and crippling pain shot through his stomach. Rikichi opened his eyes and looked up.

"Rikichi?" the girl whispered, trembling. "I thought you were..."

His lower body was covered in blood, Rikichi realized. A sword wound, perhaps. It didn't matter. He reached up to the girl's face, and it felt right.

"I remember you," he murmured, and returned her embrace. "I'm home. Tatsuki."


End file.
